Winnipeg mayor expects Thrashers deal ‘before this week is over’

It was fun to put the jersey on again, said Sam Katz. Just like old times, back when the Winnipeg Jets were still in the NHL and Katz was another season-ticket holder who lived and died with the local team.

Remember when Bobby Hull, Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson composed one of the league’s most exciting lines? Remember the white outs during playoff games at Winnipeg Arena? Remember April 28, 1996?

“Yeah, I was at the last game,” Katz, Winnipeg’s mayor since 2004, said in a phone interview. “I was heartbroken.”

It was around that time when Katz’s Keith Tkachuk jersey, which was autographed by the former captain, was framed and hung on a wall. That was about 15 years ago. But with the NHL reportedly getting close to returning to Winnipeg, the sweater has come off the wall.

“It was great putting it on,” Katz said, joking, “One of these days I’ll grow into it.”

The owners of the Atlanta Thrashers have reportedly been in negotiations to sell the franchise to True North Entertainment, which intends to relocate the team to Winnipeg. A lot has to happen before then, but Katz believes an announcement could come any day now.

“I’m glad we’re dealing with genuine, serious negotiations, which we all believe will probably be announced within the next 48 hours,” he said. “The reason is anybody who has any knowledge of running an NHL franchise, the thing would be to do it as soon as you can or wait until after the Stanley Cup playoffs.

“I think the astute business move would be to get it done ASAP and to me that’s in the next 48 hours. Before this week is over, for sure.”

There is, however, reason to be cautious. The NHL’s board of governors, 75% of whom must approve any sale and relocation, are reportedly in favour of the Thrashers staying in Atlanta.And it is not like hungry Canadian hockey fans have not been burned in the past.

Before the Thrashers, Winnipeg was supposedly going to repatriate the Phoenix Coyotes franchise. Before that, southern Ontario was rumoured to be the new home of the Nashville Predators or Pittsburgh Penguins.

They all ended the same way. At the last second, a local group (or the league) swooped in and kept the team where it was. That could happen again, although indications are the last local group that wanted to keep the team in Atlanta has fallen by the wayside.

Still, with no announcement and no assurances, the jerseys keep coming out, even though it looks like the team will not even be called the Jets.

After 15 years of waiting, it is impossible not to get excited.

“We’ve been waiting for too long,” said Lauren Robb, who runs a Jets fan site. “It’s gotten to the point now where we’re tired. It has to happen.”

Katz feels the same way. So what, he said, if the team might be called the Winnipeg Moose. As long as the NHL is back in his city, everything — including corporate sponsorship, and attracting free agents — will work itself out.

It is a sentimental argument, like going back to an ex because you miss the good times.

Katz, though, is confident that things will be different this time. And he is wearing the jersey to prove it.

“You have to remember, we lived and died with the Winnipeg Jets,” he said. “And then they were taken — and I say taken, we didn’t lose them. The fans supported that team, but the problem was there was a lack of leadership in getting the arena built.

“That was our problem. That’s quite different than not getting fan support.”